Truck & Trailer
I picked up this 1983 Kenworth W900B in February 03 in Denver. The basic specs are: 3406B Caterpillar, RTO 14615, 355 rears, 255" wheelbase, 60" flat top sleeper. I originally found it on Truckpaper.com, and since it was a local unit I had it dyno'd. It put 386 horsepower to the ground on a 400 set Cat. Not bad, and without much blow by I couldn't pass it up, even though I was hoping to find a stand up sleeper unit. A dirt cheap truck with a solid drive line was just what I needed to start playing!
The first hurdle was to get the truck titled and registered as a motorhome. Aside from a few very minor repairs the bulk of the work was to meet the Colorado administrative procedure for converting an existing vehicle to a motorhome. There is no specific state statute defining the process completely. The essential components installed were an independent 110v power system, cooking facilities, refrigerator, and bathroom. The most complex of those is the power system. It's an Aims 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter along with plenty of batteries, wind turbine and solar panels. There's more to that story further on. A cheap and very small microwave suffices for the cooking facility, although I have a gas camping stove that produces much better food! An electric cooler style fridge and Thetford portable toilet meet the other two requirements. A very rural Colorado DMV office sent the paperwork through for me.
I'll keep the tandem axles, and won't put on a toter/hauler bed either. I just like the looks better. Perhaps some fenders over the drive wheels at some point, but right now I have other items that need to get done. The wind turbine seen here is now dismantled in order to make room for a new solar panel mount, along with several other revisions behind the sleeper. The wind turbine will return with a taller mast independent of the sleeper. Pictures of the new beginnings are further on, and the list of desirable items for the truck is too long to list!
These are 8 group 24 gel cells in the passenger step to the cab. I'm used to gel cells as a type of battery, and despite their picky charge rate, they have a very long service life which I'm happy with. These are MK brand which are quite decent. Specs are: CCA 410@0degF; CA 575@32degF; 73.6 Amp/hr @20hr rate; 52.5 lbs ea; 12 volt; Main cable runs are made up of 4/0 welding cable, interconnects are 2 gauge between each set of 4 batteries. Each set of 4 batteries are interconnected with 4/0. The inverter cable run is 2/0 for a 2000 watt unit. I have 8 more batteries in the Knaak tool box that aren't yet, but will eventually be hooked up. A picture of that along with what we use for a gasoline powered standby generator is next.
It's a slick little Makita 4100 watt 110/220 volt unit. It does real well on fuel, but it's noisy. I'm thinking about ways to quiet it down some, but don't use it very often so it's a back burner project. The generator was the last perk I requested from the dealer we purchased the trailer from. We generally can get all the power we need through the Aims 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter. In relative terms, it's a low cost inverter by a long shot. But it has performed well up to now so I have no complaints. I have seen on websites where an Aims unit quit on one couple, and high end units quit on others. So I guess we'll find out the hard way if it's any good or not! I'm not interested in any automatic power transfer switching, and wired a 110 volt weather proof outlet under the right side of the sleeper. I just plug the trailer cord into that with adapters, or into the genset, or shore power, whatever I need.
This space between the back of the sleeper and the forward surface of the tool box is being completely changed. I used ramp material from Harbor Freight for decking, and mounted an I beam that has a rack gear on it. On this I beam will be mounted a gear reduced carriage assembly with the pinion gear that will hold a rack of solar panels. The idea, as it stands, is to have the solar panel active surfaces facing the back of the sleeper while stowed. Then slide out to the left side of the truck via a dc gearmotor. From there I need to refine in what manner I'll tilt the panels. I have plenty of 12-24 volt dc motors and gear boxes along with a bunch of dc actuators to play with. After price shopping aluminum angle, box, and channel, I'm leaning heavily towards steel. I should be able to figure something out. At some point, it'll all get painted too! If you look close, you'll see the locking fuel caps my girlfriend gave me as a Christmas present.
Here is the Trailer Saver hitch that replaced the commercial Holland unit. Because of the 8 bag ride on the Kenworth along with it's associated torsion bars, I decided to mount it on 1/2" plate steel mounted across the original slider frame. There just wasn't enough space available to drop the hitch inbetween the frame, and I never have wanted to arrange the truck where there would be excess frame overhang. In order to achieve a level trailer, I dismantled the pin box assembly, cut the pin box down with a sawzall, and reassembled it. Now if I let the air out of the suspensions its a tad nose low.
Installing this Handy Lift manufactured by Burr Engineering is the most recent project we've undertaken. Here you can see the doorway to the fifth wheel and the lift after initial assembly of the actuator to the platform. The unit has a 300 lb weight capacity, which when cantilevered to the outside of the trailer, is of concern to me. I've never seen the internal construction of this Carriage unit, but certainly suspect the structure is mostly of 2x2 wood with the fiberglass sheeting applied to the outside. The interior appears to be a fiber composite without much if any structural support in and of itself. Here you can also see the lift blocked up into place.
After fiddling around trying to determine internal wiring placement, and some careful drilling, the lift was bolted into place. This lift pivots 90 degrees away from the entrance, and the deck can then be lifted up parallel to the side of the trailer for transport. For structural support of the wall, I purchased some 4" wide x 1/2" thick flat plate steel. From that I have made a vertical support 5 feet tall to lay up against the inside wall of the trailer. To that is welded a 5" gusseted foot that extends into the room. Once the paint dries, I'll install that interior support. If the wall still bows outward with use of the lift, then I'll drill through the foot and floor of the trailer, and attach a link to the frame of the trailer. I'll probably do it anyway.